Music Reviews

Album Review: Imagine Dragons – Origins

Straight off the back of their latest world tour, the multi-platinum, Grammy Award winning band Imagine Dragons just released their fourth studio album Origins and their fanbase is going wild in response. Just over a year since the release of Evolve (the band’s third album), the 15 tracks making up the deluxe version of Origins suggests the band are showing no signs of slowing down.

“A tantalising mix of the band’s electronic hip hop vibes and a catchy chorus”

The album starts strong with ‘Natural’, the first single from the album to be released. With a tantalising mix of the band’s electronic hip hop vibes and a catchy chorus, it ticks all of the boxes for a classic to be added to Imagine Dragons’ repertoire for years to come. Building upon the disjointed yet melodious style used on the chorus of ‘Thunder’ on Evolve, the band explore this style once more across the track ‘Bullet In A Gun’, creating a surprisingly catchy tracks that will be stuck in your head for weeks.

“You’d expect anything remotely acoustic to pale in comparison. If anything, the contrast makes ‘West Coast’ shine”

There are very few bands who can get away with sandwiching a stripped back ballad in between two of the biggest singles from the album, but Imagine Dragons pulls it off with the sixth track ‘West Coast’. Surrounded by the ‘…’ of ‘Bad Liar’ and the upbeat techno vibes of ‘Zero’ (from Ralph Breaks the Internet), you’d expect anything remotely acoustic to pale in comparison. If anything, the contrast makes ‘West Coast’ shine, highlighting Reynolds’ vocals and the refreshing simplicity of the band’s interpretation of country vibes. Imagine Dragons have been known to dabble with a country style, often including a mini acoustic set within their stadium filling gigs, yet ‘West Coast’ is their most polished attempt yet, even surpassing ‘Release’ from their second album Smoke + Mirrors.

As a band who are famous for speaking out about mental health and openly supporting charities and causes they believe in, it’s no surprise that Origins contains some powerful messages about modern life. Lyrics in the song ‘Digital’ describing a desire for social change, and the final track of the deluxe version of the album ‘Real Life’ is devoted to the message that the masses’ relationship with technology is becoming worryingly dystopian. Even the upbeat single ‘Machine’ suggests a need for autonomy in a world where everyone is equally dependent on technology. The focus on modern life may just stem from the band’s recent work on the movie Ralph Breaks the Internet, but it still provides a refreshing contrast to the high frequency of songs about love in the charts.

“Some of their songs that explore peace and love can seem lack lustre when compared to big hits”

Some of the slower songs, such as ‘Stuck’, ‘Love’ and ‘Boomerang’ begin to feel a little repetitive after multiple listens, but this may be due to the topic of the songs. Despite the diversity of Imagine Dragons’ music, some of their songs that explore peace and love can seem lack lustre when compared to big hits like ‘Natural’ which sets high expectations for the rest of the album that can’t realistically be met by all of the tracks.

“The album introduces us to sides of Imagine Dragons we’ve never seen before whilst maintaining the warming sense of familiarity which hooked their fans from the start”

When Evolve was released in June 2017, I couldn’t help feeling that something was missing. Whilst it was the most polished album the band had released to date, it lacked some of the depth and rawness of emotion that made the band so relatable for me in the first place. It was still refreshing to see the band experiment and explore with new sounds and techniques, it did seem like some of their charm had been left behind in their evolution. The arrival of Origins as a sister album to Evolve seems to address and make amends to this, with vocalist Dan Reynolds describing Origins as being about ‘seeking new ground but also appreciating your roots.’ The album introduces us to sides of Imagine Dragons we’ve never seen before whilst maintaining the warming sense of familiarity which hooked their fans from the start.

Origins is enough to please fans old and new”

Does Origins still contain that charm that sets Imagine Dragons apart from other frequenters of the charts? Yes. Will some people complain that it doesn’t sound enough like their first album Night Visions? Yes. As with any Imagine Dragons album, it’s not perfect. The variance across songs means that some of the slower tracks feel hollow compared to the powerhouses of ‘Natural’, ‘Machine’ and ‘Burn Out’, but this imperfection is what draws people to their music. Origins is enough to please fans old and new, and win back the hearts of fans who were left slightly disappointed by Evolve.

9/10

Celeste Adams

Featured image courtesy of Imagine Dragons Official Facebook Page.

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